head to head · open source
hydra vs casdoor
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars, 1,619 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. casdoor has 14,751 stars, 1,886 forks, 97 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hydra leads on adoption by 20% (17,646 vs 14,751 stars). hydra is written in Go under Apache-2.0; casdoor is written in Go under Apache-2.0. hydra has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, casdoor 13%. casdoor was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (oauth), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| hydra | casdoor | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 15K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 1.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick hydra if
- You weight community size — 18K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick casdoor if
- You want the casdoor feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and casdoor fits your workflow better
About hydra
Chat · Discussions · Newsletter · Docs · Try Ory Network · Jobs Ory Hydra is a hardened, OpenID Certified OAuth 2.0 Server and OpenID Connect Provider optimized for low latency, high throughput, and low resource consumption. It connects to your existing identity provider through a login and consent app, giving you absolute control over the user interface and experience. What is Ory Hydra? Why Ory Hydra OAuth2 and OpenID Connect: Open Standards OpenID Connect Certified Deployment options Use Ory Hydra on the Ory Network Self host Ory Hydra Quickstart Who is using Ory Hydra Ecosystem Ory Kratos: Identity and User…
read the full hydra overview →
About casdoor
An open source, self hosted identity and access management platform Casdoor is a single sign on (SSO) and authentication server with a web console. It speaks OAuth 2.0 , OIDC , SAML 2.0 , CAS , LDAP , SCIM 2.0 , WebAuthn , TOTP/MFA and MCP , and connects to Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), GitHub and many other identity providers. Website · Documentation · Live demo · Discord The sign in page your users see: password, email/SMS code, WebAuthn and Face ID, plus every social provider you enable. Admin console. Users, tokens, organizations and providers at a glance…
read the full casdoor overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is hydra or casdoor more popular?
hydra has 17,646 GitHub stars and casdoor has 14,751. hydra has the larger community by that measure.
Are hydra and casdoor free?
Both are open source. hydra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and casdoor under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between hydra and casdoor?
hydra is written in Go and casdoor in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, hydra or casdoor?
Choose hydra if you want the larger community (17,646 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose casdoor if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.